INDIANS KILL THE UNFIT.

Otago Witness, Issue 3030, 10 April 1912, Page 84

INDIANS KILL THE UNFIT.

A firm of film-makers has arranged with Count W. de Niemira for a cinematograph operator to accompany him on his new expedition into the unknown interior of the Paraguayan Chaco, for the purpose of obtaining pictures of life among the primitive savage Indians of that territory. Count de Niemira is the only white man who has established intimate relations with the ferocious Chamacocos, and an account of his experiences was given in the Standard. In conversation he said :—"lf the public would look into the motives that cause the customs of ths Indians, the- films might do considerable good. Civilisation has a lot to learn from the savage, or, if you like, unlearn, of itself." He gave as an instance the custom among the Chamacocos of weeding out the unfit. Weakly

children are not allowed to live, and men are put to death by their nearest relatives when they become infirm or exceed the age of seventy. It was never evaded, sa ; d Count de Niemira. but taken as a matter of course; it would no more occur to the Indian to question an established custom than to resist a law of Nature The ceremony he described as follows: — The aged man seats himself in the presence, of his family and chiei, and bows his head. His eldest son steps up softly behind him bearing the great club dedicated to the purpose. Springing to his full height, he swings it with both hands above his head, and brings it crashing down on the skull; all is over with one blow. Aged women are never put to death. They are held in great respect. The Count admitted that the practice of clubbing the aged was open to abuse, and related how he was put in a most awkward position by such a case when he was staying in a Chamaweo camp some 330 mile* sou/th-west of the first stretch of Salinas (salt deserts). "A half-brother of the Cacique demanded the fulfilment of the custom. The Cacique was an elderly man who had been recently badly mauled by a jaguar, and had been under the care of the Count. But he was by no means infirm, though at the time weak." I took the risk of challenging the right, and upon that there was a division in the tribe, and things weie very nasty for a while. I say the risk, for'ii vou meddle with the working of tribal affairs you get the witch doctor fearing for his " power, and promising young men a wonderful future if a poisoned arrow should happen to stick in your back. I could not afford to let the half-brother get into power, aa I should not have left the camp alive. I 'had been warned against the younger man, who had set covetous eyes upon my Holland rifle, and bore me a grudge. The half-brother possessed a muzzle-loading gun and a reputation for wonderful shooting. The oomimon weapon in the interior is the bow and arrow. Of course, with the long range r.nd powerful dharge of my modern gun I put him in the shade. He was shrewd, and suspected that the superiority was in the gun and by no virtue oi my own. I allowed him to try it, but took the precaution of charging it with black powder cartridges instead of the smokeless I used. But though I got better results than he, he knew the superioritv of the weapon. He offered me a favourite wife for it, and my refusal made matters worse. I put it as tactfully as I could, saying that it would be a ser;ous offence among the white races. It is a custom among the Indians to confer great honour by transferring a favourite wife.